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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25491988">Love Beneath Fireworks</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaibutsu_chan/pseuds/kaibutsu_chan'>kaibutsu_chan</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Winner (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Original Character(s), Pining, Romantic Fluff, Seungyoon pov</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 08:09:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,887</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25491988</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaibutsu_chan/pseuds/kaibutsu_chan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Part of the WInner Spring Summer ficfest 2020!</p><p> </p><p>Love isn't on Seungyoon's priority list, being in the public eye makes dating difficult after all. However<br/>after meeting Hyerin, the sister of Seunghoon's fiancé, he cannot stop thinking about her, could it be he's fallen in love?<br/>But will he have the courage to go for it even after the blossoming relationship is made public in the tabloids?</p><p> <br/>Written for the following prompt:<br/>AF065 - Out with Hoony and his fiancé, Yoon gets introduced to Hoony’s sister in law to be. She has just completed her vet degree. They get more friendly as Thor brings them together and Yoon falls for her, but can protect her from mad fans?</p><p>I would probably have written double the word count if I had had the time to do the story proper justice, but oh well haha. This is my first ever fic, I hope you enjoy!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kang Seungyoon/Original Character(s), Lee Seunghoon/Original character</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>WINNER Spring/Summer Fic Fest 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Love Beneath Fireworks</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>Seungyoon checked the time on his phone for what felt like the millionth time, he was running late and knew Seunghoon would give him so much crap for it. It wasn’t his fault the photo shoot had run late and that the traffic to the restaurant was terrible, but Seungyoon knew his friend and fellow group member wouldn’t think much of his excuses. It was a very important evening for Seunghoon after all, him and his girlfriend had recently gotten engaged and they were holding a small celebratory dinner so both their families could meet. The other two Winner members were both unable to join them tonight, Jinu was busy filming a movie in Busan and Mino was off in the US performing at a festival, leaving Seungyoon to be Seunghoon’s moral support for the evening.</p><p>After another fifteen minutes, that definitely felt more like an hour, the driver finally pulled up outside of the restaurant. Seungyoon took a deep breath, stealing himself to be scolded, before he stepped out of the car and walked into the restaurant. It did not take long before he could hear his hyung’s loud chatter and he located the table quickly.</p><p> </p><p>“Seungyoonie, finally!”</p><p> </p><p>As soon as Seunghoon saw him, he got up, walked towards him and embraced him.</p><p> </p><p>“I told you not to be late, you traitor...!” Hoon whispered into Seungyoon’s ear before letting him go.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, at least you’re not the last to arrive” Seunghoon chuckled before continuing.</p><p> </p><p>“Eunhye’s sister is running later than you it seems, but at least that’s because she’s saving lives!”</p><p> </p><p>Seungyoon let out a sigh of relief that Seunghoon was in a good enough mood to let his tardiness slide with just a cheeky remark.</p><p>The rest of the evening went smoothly, the food was good and everyone around the table was having a good time. Just as everyone was getting ready to leave the restaurant, the door flung open and a woman in a green flowy dress rushed in.</p><p> </p><p>“Ahh, did I miss the whole dinner?”</p><p> </p><p>Seungyoon looked up from his phone and locked eyes with the newly arrived stranger in front of them. He noticed her long dark hair was tied up in a loose bun, which emphasized her slim neck and made her look very elegant. Her face was round, her eyes big and warm, making her look cute and beautiful at the same time. Seungyoon’s mind went blank and instead of acting like a normal human being and saying hello he just stood and stared as the woman in front of him gave him an awkward smile and wave just as Seunghoon’s fiancé walked up to her.</p><p> </p><p>“Hyerin, you’re FINALLY here! You missed dinner, but we were just talking about having a drink at oppa and Seungyoonie’s house before calling it a night. You’ll join us, right?”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m sorry I’m so late, eonni. I got caught up at work and then traffic getting here was awful… It really hasn’t been my day today, so I would be more than happy to have a drink before heading home and collapsing in bed!”</p><p> </p><p>Seungyoon realized that he had been staring with his mouth half open this whole time, he quickly closed it and hoped no one had noticed. He didn’t know why Eunhye’s sister had caught him so off guard.</p><p> </p><p>After saying goodnight to Seunghoon and Eunhye’s parents, the four of them hopped into a car and headed to Seunghoon and Seungyoon’s shared apartment. Seungyoon felt a pang of sadness at the thought that his hyung would soon move out of their apartment, but he was happy that Seunghoon had found someone he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Besides, at least he had his trusty poodle Thor to keep him company.</p><p>Lately he had gotten a lot more questions about whether or not he was dating or thinking of dating, but when Seunghoon had announced his engagement there had been a few angry and very vocal fans and a lot of haters who had shown their displeasure at the news online and Seungyoon had read all their comments. He knew he shouldn’t let hate like that stop him from doing what he wants, but he was unsure if he could ever be as carefree as Seunghoon and date someone no matter if he angers people by doing so. And aside from that, love hadn’t exactly been on his radar for many years. Seungyoon’s thoughts kept churning, when he suddenly felt a light touch on his knee that jolted him back to the present.</p><p> </p><p>“You looked like you were miles away, would you like a candy?”</p><p> </p><p>Hyerin handed him a small wrapped candy from her purse with a small smile.</p><p> </p><p>“When I was younger my grandma would always give me a piece of candy whenever I looked like I was thinking gloomy thoughts. She used to say that I should let the sweetness from the candy wash away the sadness. I’m still not sure if that actually works but getting something sweet can’t hurt at least!”</p><p> </p><p>Seungyoon took the candy out of her elegantly outstretched hand, in the brief moment his skin touched hers he could feel a flutter inside his chest.</p><p> </p><p>“Did I look gloomy...?”</p><p> </p><p>“A little. You looked like you were thinking about something very seriously.”</p><p> </p><p>“I guess you’re right…” Seungyoon unwrapped the candy and popped it into his mouth.</p><p> </p><p>Just as he was about to continue the conversation, the car stopped and Seunghoon quickly jumped out of the car motioning for the rest of them to get their butts moving and inadvertently cutting an intimate moment short.</p><p>The rest of the evening was fun, the four of them had a few drinks (except for Seunghoon of course) and played some games before Eunhye declared that it was late and high time for her and her sister to go home. As Seungyoon put his head on his pillow, he caught himself wishing the evening could have gone on for a little bit longer. Eunhye’s sister had made him laugh harder than ever with her hilarious imitation of Seunghoon. It had been a while since he had been able to just relax and have fun, he had really needed an evening like this. The last thought in his head just as he drifted off to sleep was Hyerin, stretching out her hand to give him a candy with a smile on her face sweeter than anything he had ever tasted.</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>A few days passed, they had been unremarkable but had kept him busy and distracted. After spending the morning at the studio working, he finally had some free time and planned to spend the rest of the day with his beloved poodle Thor. It had been a while since Seungyoon had been able to spend an entire day with his loyal dog, he had a whole day of bonding time planned for them. Seungyoon had noticed that Thor had seemed a bit tired in the morning, so instead of bringing the dog with him to the studio as he usually did, he had left him at the apartment to rest. As he turned the key in the lock, the excited barks Seungyoon expected to hear didn’t come, instead he was met with silence in the apartment.</p><p> </p><p>“Thor, appa is home! Where are you?”</p><p> </p><p>The silence started to feel deafening and Seungyoon’s gut told him something was wrong. He let his bag fall to the floor and started frantically looking for Thor around the apartment and he finally found him curled up into a tiny ball under Seungyoon’s bed making small whimpering noises. He carefully picked the dog up and held him in his arms.</p><p> </p><p>“Thor, what’s wrong? What’s wrong?”</p><p> </p><p>Thor barely paid him any attention even as he cooed his name and gently petted him. Seungyoon could feel the panic rapidly spreading throughout his body, what was wrong with Thor? What was he supposed to do? He put Thor down gently on his bed and scrambled out into the hallway to fetch his phone out of his bag. He scrolled through his contacts until he reached Seunghoon’s name and dialed.</p><p> </p><p>“Heeeey, wha…”</p><p> </p><p>“Hyung, something’s wrong with Thor! He’s not really moving and barely pays any attention when I try to talk to him! I don’t know what to do!”</p><p> </p><p>“Hey hey hey, calm down. Take a deep breath.”</p><p> </p><p>Seungyoon tried to do what his hyung told him to, desperately trying to quell the panic inside of him.</p><p> </p><p>“Listen to me, Seungyoon, everything is going to be alright, ok? Eunhye’s sister is a veterinarian, remember you met her the other night? I’ll text you the address to the clinic she works at, just get into a car and I’ll let her know that you’re on the way with Thor. Everything will be ok.”</p><p> </p><p>Even though he knew Seunghoon couldn’t see him, Seungyoon nodded in reply to what he had said. It was all he could muster up at the moment. He heard the click as Seunghoon hung up the phone and almost instantly after that he got the text with the address to the veterinary clinic.</p><p>Seungyoon rushed back into his bedroom, grabbed one of Thor’s blankets and wrapped it around the dog’s body as he lifted him up into his arms. Seungyoon could feel his uneven breathing and the panic and fear started rising again. He hurried out the front door and into the elevator down to the garage. Seungyoon thanked the stars he had gotten his driver’s license recently so he could drive to the clinic immediately himself instead of having to wait for a driver to come by and pick them up.</p><p>The drive to the clinic was thankfully a short one, he parked haphazardly in the parking lot next to the building where the clinic was located and rushed inside to the front desk with Thor cradled gently in his arms.</p><p> </p><p>“I... I’m looking for Man Hyerin? She’s expecting me, I think…”</p><p> </p><p>“May I ask your name, sir?”</p><p> </p><p>Seungyoon managed to stutter his name out and the receptionist picked up the phone on the desk and dialed a number, before turning to him.</p><p> </p><p>“Dr Man will be with you in just a short moment, sir. Please have seat over there for now.”</p><p> </p><p>The receptionist gave him a polite smile and pointed towards the seats in the waiting room. Just as he was about to sit down, he heard his name being called. He turned towards where the voice was coming from and saw Hyerin standing in the hallway with a nurse next to her.</p><p> </p><p>“Seungyoon-ssi, Seunghoon-oppa called me and said you were coming over with your dog. Would you be ok to hand Thor over to the nurse and we’ll take him to an exam room to look him over? I’m afraid you’ll have to wait here until I’ve finished the exam, but as soon as I’m done you can come in and stay with him. Don’t worry, I promise I’ll take good care of him until then.”</p><p> </p><p>Hyerin gave him a reassuring smile and arm squeeze as the nurse took Thor from him. He could still feel the warmth of her touch as he sat down to wait for the examination to be over. It took him all the mental strength he had to keep himself from thinking of the thousand different worst case scenarios as he waited. Half an hour passed before Hyerin came back out to the waiting room and called for him, Seungyoon noticed she didn’t look like the bearer of bad news as he walked up to her.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m still waiting for the blood tests to come back before I can be 100% sure, but I’m pretty sure Thor has canine parainfluenza. It can easily be treated with a few rounds of antibiotics and he’ll be feeling like himself in no time.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, thank god…”</p><p> </p><p>As Seungyoon’s body started to relax when he heard the good news, he suddenly felt his knees go wobbly then the room started spinning and his head felt light, right before everything went dark.</p><p>                                                                         ***</p><p> </p><p>The first thing he noticed before he opened his eyes, was a faint smell of citrus fruit and flowers. Seungyoon slowly blinked his eyes open, as he tried to remember what had happened. The last thing he remembered was relief at hearing that Thor was going to be fine and Hyerin looking at him with worry before things got fuzzy in his memory.</p><p>As Seungyoon’s head fog started clearing up, he noticed that he was lying down on a small couch in what looked like an office. He slowly sat up and looked around the room. It was a small and pretty standard looking veterinary office or at least what he imagined they looked like, since he hadn’t exactly seen that many of them in his life so far. He noticed that there were a few personal touches scattered throughout the room, that made it feel a bit less sterile. There was a crystal bowl on the desk with wrapped candies, some green plants spread around in the room and a few other trinkets. Above the desk hung a modern looking painting with bold colors he was sure Mino would have loved. Next to the candy bowl he noticed a framed photo of what Seungyoon guessed must be a picture of Hyerin and her sister from when they were kids. He picked the frame up and looked closer at the photo. Both of the young girls had pigtails and matching dresses, but there was something extra sweet about one of them that made him guess it must be Hyerin. Just as he put the photo back down on the desk the office door behind him opened, startling him slightly. Seungyoon turned around abruptly, feeling a bit embarrassed as if he had just been caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to.</p><p> </p><p> “Oh, so you’re awake! I was starting to get worried I might have to call an ambulance for you, you were out of it for a while.”</p><p> </p><p>Seungyoon smiled an embarrassed smile.</p><p> </p><p>“Ah I’m so sorry if I inconvenienced you… What happened exactly?”</p><p> </p><p>“I think you were so relieved to hear Thor will be fine, that your body finally had a chance to catch up with the stress you must have been feeling and you fainted. We managed to move you in here to the couch, I figured that it would be more comfortable than the waiting room floor.”</p><p> </p><p>Hyerin laughed at the last sentence, her laughter sounded like a bubbling brook, clear and sweet almost like music in his ears. Their eyes met and for a second Seungyoon wondered if she could hear what he was thinking as her smile seemed to grow a bit bigger.</p><p> </p><p>“Come on, I’ll take you to see Thor. The blood work came back while you were passed out and as I first thought he has the flu. I gave him some antibiotics and I’ll send you home with some as well. Make sure he takes them every evening for the next week and he’ll be back to his old self soon! But keep a look out for any side effects, if you notice anything out of the ordinary call me straight away.”</p><p> </p><p>She led him to the exam room where Thor was waiting for him and as soon as the dog saw Seungyoon his ears perked up a bit. Seungyoon gave him gentle scratches and whispered some reassuring words to him before picking him up.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s time to say goodbye to the nice veterinarian now, Thor. Say bye bye!”</p><p> </p><p>Thor gave Hyerin’s hand a few licks as she petted his head.</p><p> </p><p>“Bye Thor, make sure you take care of your appa when you’re back on your feet so he doesn’t faint again”</p><p> </p><p>She flashed Seungyoon a smile before she left the room. He stood frozen in the exam room, why did he feel sad that she had just left? Why did he miss that smile of hers, that made him feel like he’d just seen a rainbow, when it had only been seconds since he saw it?</p><p> </p><p>                                                                               ***</p><p> </p><p>Later that week, while he was lying in bed with Thor sleeping soundly on top of his stomach, Seungyoon’s thoughts turned to Hyerin. She had been on his mind what felt like every minute the past week since he had taken Thor to see her. What was it about her that made it almost impossible for him to not think about her? When he closed his eyes Seungyoon could see her in front of him, her hair swept into a low side bun like the one she had had the other day, smiling at him.</p><p>He opened Instagram on his phone, searched up Eunhye’s page and started scrolling through her posts hoping to find her sister in one of them and maybe if he was lucky her Instagram handle as well. Wait… was he being a creepy stalker now? Seungyoon quickly closed the app and groaned loudly. What was wrong with him? He’d never acted this way before and it frustrated him. He pulled up her contact info on his phone for the thousandth time and stared at the number. Hyerin had mentioned he should call her if Thor had any problems with the medicine, but the antibiotics had been working fine and Thor was getting better every day. Could he call her anyway…? But what if she thought he was a weirdo for calling her out of the blue and for no apparent reason?</p><p>Just then the doorbell rang, prompting Thor to sit up and start barking loudly before he hopped off Seungyoon and ran towards the door. Seungyoon could hear the front door open and the bark of another dog. Seunghoon and Haute must be home, he thought and got out of the bed to go greet them.</p><p> </p><p>“Welcome home, hyung”</p><p> </p><p>“Seungyoonie, help me out getting the groceries into the kitchen!”</p><p> </p><p>Seungyoon grabbed a few bags that were overflowing with food from Seunghoon’s hands.</p><p> </p><p>“How much food did you buy…? Are you planning to feed the entire apartment complex?”</p><p> </p><p>“Didn’t I tell you Eunhye and a few friends are coming over tonight for dinner? I swear I did… Anyway, I promised I would cook a spectacular feast, so naturally I had to go get a few things for it!”</p><p> </p><p>“Is… Eunhye’s sister coming as well?”</p><p> </p><p>Seungyoon tried to sound as casual and nonchalant as possible, the last thing he wanted was for Seunghoon to find out that he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her lately.</p><p> </p><p>“Mmmm, I think Eunhye said something about her sister coming as well. Why do you ask?”</p><p> </p><p>Seunghoon shot him a curious look, but Seungyoon avoided his gaze by opening the fridge door and started unloading some of the bags into it.</p><p> </p><p>“No reason really, I just wanted to maybe thank her for treating Thor…”</p><p> </p><p>Seungyoon said a silent prayer that his hyung wouldn’t probe him further and just leave it at that.</p><p> </p><p>“Anyway… I have to go to the studio in a bit, so I won’t be able to be here for your dinner extravaganza, hyung.”</p><p> </p><p>“Aish, always putting your work before your precious and beloved hyung… I can’t believe this is the rude man I raised!”</p><p> </p><p>Seunghoon flailed his arms around dramatically, sighing loudly and pretending he was absolutely devasted. He eventually shooed Seungyoon out of the kitchen while going on about how his culinary genius needed peace and quiet to work its magic.</p><p>Seungyoon had to admit that Seunghoon was a really good cook, so he was a bit disappointed he was going to miss out on the dinner tonight, but he really needed to finish the beat he had been working on. But deep down he was more disappointed at the thought he might miss out on seeing Hyerin at the dinner party.</p><p> </p><p>                                                                          ***</p><p> </p><p>Seungyoon looked up at the wall clock above his computer, it was already a little past 1 am. He’d been cooped up in his studio for almost 7 straight hours, his whole body was stiff, his eyes were so tired from the light of the screen and he was starving, but at least he was satisfied with the beat he had finished. He definitely deserved to go home and raid the fridge of whatever leftovers from the party Seunghoon had saved for him.</p><p>Seungyoon gathered up his stuff, grabbed his bag and headed out of the studio and to his car. As he pulled up to the apartment building, he saw a familiar figure coming out of the main doors. It was Hyerin. Instead of turning in to the garage, Seungyoon pulled up next to the curb in front of her and rolled the passenger window down.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, fancy seeing you here! You’re not stalking me, I hope?”</p><p> </p><p>Seungyoon cringed hard at the words that just slipped out of his stupid big mouth.</p><p> </p><p>“Haha, do you have many stalkers then, Mr. Famous?”</p><p> </p><p>“Ah… no… Sorry, I’m not sure why I said that… What I actually wanted was to say thank you for taking such good care of Thor the other day. He’s doing a lot better now!”</p><p> </p><p>“No need to thank me, I was just doing my job. I was happy to see Thor being a lot livelier tonight than when I last saw him. He couldn’t get enough cuddles during Seunghoon-oppa’s party. He is such a cute dog!”</p><p> </p><p>“Are you on your way home now?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, eonni decided she wanted to stay over so I was just going to grab a cab home on my own.”</p><p> </p><p>This was his chance, Seungyoon thought.</p><p> </p><p>“Uhm, if you want, I could give you a ride home instead?”</p><p> </p><p>“Ooooh, you want to know where I live? Who’s the stalker now, huh?” Hyerin laughed.</p><p>Seungyoon was nervous for a second that he had made a complete fool of himself, but then she opened the car door and sat down in the passenger seat. She looked over at him and chuckled.</p><p> </p><p>“Lucky for you, I’m a very trusting person. So yes, I’ll let you drive me home!”</p><p> </p><p>Seungyoon smiled at her words and thought “how was she so charming?”. On the drive to Hyerin’s apartment, the two of them chatted and laughed about everything and nothing. Seungyoon was a quite sociable person, but it had been a while since he’d met someone, who wasn’t one of his group members, he felt so comfortable around. It felt like he could tell her anything and he wanted to know everything about her.</p><p>He wished she lived somewhere further away as they arrived outside her building, he didn’t want to say goodbye to her just yet. As if she had heard his heart’s wish, she suddenly said:</p><p> </p><p>“You must be hungry, if you spent all night at your studio working? If you’re not too tired, there’s a small food stand around the corner from where I live if you want to grab a bite?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, that would be really nice actually. I’m definitely starving right now.”</p><p> </p><p>Apart from the two of them and the food stand vendor, the streets were empty. They bought a few things to share and something to drink, before Hyerin led him over to a park bench facing the river. Sitting next to each other, they ate in comfortable silence and looked at the quiet cityscape across the river. Every now and then their elbows would gently bump into each other as they were eating. When they had finished, Hyerin stood up and walked over to the riverbank. Seungyoon, still sitting on the bench, watched her as she started throwing pebbles into the water. Her light purple dress fluttered slightly in the warm summer breeze, which blew some of her hair into her face. She looked breathtakingly beautiful in the silver light of the moon shining down on them, he thought. Seungyoon wanted to freeze this moment and make it last forever.</p><p> </p><p>“You’re beautiful…”</p><p> </p><p>Hyerin turned around and looked at him with a surprised look on her face and Seungyoon could see her cheeks flush red. Their eyes met for a brief moment before she quickly looked away.</p><p> </p><p>“I… I think… I should probably head home now…”</p><p> </p><p>She started walking back towards her apartment building. Shit, he hadn’t meant for those words to slip out and now it seemed like he had messed things up. He quickly got up from the bench and ran after her.</p><p> </p><p>“Wait, Hyerin! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say that… or, at least I didn’t mean to say something to embarrass you. It just slipped out…”</p><p> </p><p>She looked up at him.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m the one who should apologize really, you just caught me off guard and I didn’t know how to react. Sorry…”</p><p> </p><p>As the two of them looked at each other, the rest of the world seemed to fade away little by little until it was only the two of them left. They stood so close to each other, he could smell a familiar scent of citrus and flowers, the same scent he had smelled in her office. All Seungyoon wanted to do was to reach out and touch her face, to feel if her skin was as soft as it looked. Just as he was about to, their bubble was shattered by the loud ringing coming from Seungyoon’s phone. They kept looking at each other for a moment before he finally fished the phone out of his pocket and answered.</p><p> </p><p>“Kang Seungyoon! Where are you??? Why aren’t you home yet? Don’t tell me you’re still in the studio working at this hour???”</p><p> </p><p>Of course the person who called was Seunghoon, he had always had an innate talent for ruining moments after all. Seungyoon silently cursed him under his breath, before calming the older one down telling him not to worry and that he’d be home soon.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m sorry about that, Seunghoon-hyung can be a worry wart sometimes.”</p><p> </p><p>Seungyoon scratched his head, not quite sure what to say next or how to get them back into the bubble they had just been in.</p><p> </p><p>“That’s ok, it’s nice to know you have someone in your life that cares so much about you. It makes me happy to know that… Anyway, it is pretty late. We should probably both head home and get some sleep.”</p><p> </p><p>She gave him a small smile, before she started walking towards her building again. Just as Seungyoon was about to walk towards his car, she turned around and shouted.</p><p> </p><p>“Call me tomorrow if you want!”</p><p>The whole drive home he couldn’t stop smiling.</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>The following weeks Seungyoon and Hyerin would call and text each other every day, meeting up occasionally when he was out for a walk with Thor. Seungyoon felt a lightness in his body whenever he was around her, like no burden could weigh him down when he was with her. And then one afternoon he was awakened by Seunghoon storming into his room.</p><p> </p><p>“Seungyoon, you need to wake up right now and tell me what the hell this is!”</p><p> </p><p>Seunghoon threw his phone on top of the bed as Seungyoon slowly sat up, still half asleep. He picked the phone up and stared at the screen for a moment before his brain processed what exactly it was he was looking at. It was an article, published by Dispatch, with the headline “Kang Seungyoon of Winner, has a secret girlfriend!” and filled with paparazzi pictures of him and Hyerin from one of their walks with Thor.</p><p> </p><p>“That’s not all either, there are 3 other articles like this one currently on the top page on Naver. I wouldn’t recommend reading the comments under the articles or what people are saying about this on Twitter right now, it’s not pretty. Is it true though, are you and Hyerin dating?”</p><p> </p><p>Seungyoon just stared at Seunghoon, not quite knowing what to say or what to think at the moment. It felt like someone had punched all air out of his lungs, his thoughts kept racing and he couldn’t seem to concentrate on any one single thought or form any words.</p><p> </p><p>“I just got off the phone with Eunhye who spent the morning trying to console her sister. All of her social media has been flooded with hate comments, some people even got a hold of her work email… I can’t believe that shit for brains, so called journalist published Hyerin’s name in the article.”</p><p> </p><p>Hyerin. Shit. What the hell had he brought upon her?</p><p> </p><p>“Earth to Seungyoon, are you there??”</p><p> </p><p>“Hyung… what the hell am I supposed to do…? I never thought something like this would happen…”</p><p> </p><p>Seunghoon sat down next to him on the bed, his eyes softened when he saw how distraught Seungyoon looked.</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t know… Oh yeah, the company called earlier, they want you to come in asap, I’m guessing to talk about this whole mess.”</p><p> </p><p>The nightmare he had woken up to only seemed to be getting worse and worse.</p><p> </p><p>“Before you go to that meeting though, you should probably figure out who Hyerin is to you and how far you’re willing to go for her.”</p><p> </p><p>“What do you mean?”</p><p> </p><p>“I mean; are you in love with her or not?”</p><p> </p><p>In… love? The question stunned Seungyoon. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been in love with someone, let alone liked someone romantically. Ever since they had debuted, Seungyoon had put all his time and energy into the group and his career. And then there was the fans. They had been there for him and the group through thick and thin, he never wanted to do anything to deliberately hurt them and he knew that dating was a sore subject between artists and fans in his line of work. Sure, he’d had a few short dalliances here and there throughout the years, he wasn’t a eunuch after all, but even then love hadn’t really been on his mind.</p><p>Was he in love? He did think about her more often than anyone else, he would catch himself smiling like a fool whenever a message from her popped up on his phone screen and whenever he was with her he didn’t want to part from her. They had shared intimate details about themselves and even though they had met fairly recently it felt like he had known her his entire life. But was he willing to drag her into the circus that came along with being with a celebrity? To potentially expose her to hurtful and mindless hate she didn’t deserve?</p><p> </p><p>“Does it matter if I’m in love with her? What right do I have to expose her to all this craziness just because she’s associated with me? I don’t think I have the right to be that selfish.”</p><p> </p><p>“Of course it matters, you idiot! Especially if she’s in love with you too. Look, I know you, Seungyoon. I know how selfless and self-sacrificing you can be and I know it’s because you genuinely care about others. But it’s ok to be a bit selfish sometimes. You can’t give up on something you care about just because some people are kicking up a fuss and trying to dictate how you should live your life. If you are in love, then stand your ground and live a little for once.”</p><p> </p><p>As if to give his words a dramatic punctuation, Seunghoon got up and walked out of the room leaving Seungyoon to ponder what he had just said.</p><p> </p><p>After being left alone with his own thoughts, Seungyoon tried calling Hyerin several times but only got her voicemail. Was she angry at him? Maybe she didn’t want anything to do with him anymore after getting harassed, he couldn’t blame her if that was the case. He was the reason she had gotten flooded with hate messages after all.</p><p>A few hours went by, he continued trying to call her, but each time no one picked up. Would she ever speak to him again? He had ignored all calls from his company and managers, he eventually had sent them a message telling them he wasn’t going to talk to them until he had talked to Hyerin. Seungyoon felt like the only thing that actually mattered right now was to make sure she was alright. He was just about to call Eunhye to ask about her, when he got a text message.</p><p> </p><p>‘<em>Can you meet me at the park by the riverbank in 2 hours?</em>’</p><p> </p><p>                                                                      ***</p><p>Seungyoon had gotten there early, too early honestly, going by how nervous he was. Hyerin hadn’t replied after he had sent a reply to her message about meeting up. Unlike the first time they had been there together, the streets along the riverbank was bustling with people and all kinds of food and merchandise stands. With everything else going on that day, he had forgotten that today was the day of the yearly summer fireworks display.</p><p>He had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts, he didn’t notice when Hyerin walked up to him.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey… thank you for coming.”</p><p> </p><p>Her voice cut through his thoughts and brought him back to reality.</p><p> </p><p>“Of course, I’m really glad you sent me that message.”</p><p> </p><p>He was nervous but reminded himself what he wanted to say to her. Before he got the chance to start, Hyerin cut in.</p><p> </p><p>“Seungyoon, I’m sorry I’ve been ignoring your calls all day, I just needed some time to think and to process everything. I care about you so much, but I understand if you don’t want to see me anymore. I know you have an image and reputation to protect, that there are expectations on you and it’s not like there were any promises made between us… We’ve only known each other for a short time and we can end whatever this is right here if you want…”</p><p> </p><p>“Listen, I don’t know what the future might hold, but I do know that all the love songs I’ve written make more sense to me since I met you.”</p><p> </p><p>Seungyoon took her hands in his and held them as he continued talking.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m used to living my life following plans I’ve laid out and meeting you definitely wasn’t in my plan, but here we are. The time I’ve spent with you has been fun and healing and I cherish that time so much. I know that being with me comes with a lot of complications you wouldn’t have to deal with if you dated someone else, but I promise you here and now that I will always do my best for you and protect you from hateful people. I’m in love with you and even if this isn’t the ideal way to announce that I’m dating someone, I don’t care. For once I’m going to be selfish and choose what I want for the simple reason that I want it. And what I want is you.”</p><p> </p><p>Seungyoon pulled her closer to him and as they leaned into each other and kissed, fireworks exploded in the night sky, illuminating them in a rainbow of colors. His nostrils were filled with the sweet scent of citrus fruits and summer flowers and as the kiss deepened everyone and everything around them faded away until the world was just the two of them and the dazzling fireworks above them.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
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